Ladder attachment

ABSTRACT

A device for attachment to a ladder which enables the ladder to bridge windows and distribute the force of the ladder over a larger area thereby providing a greater margin of safety against the ladder sliding off the building and at the same time a greater freedom in the work area yet be lighter and inexpensive.

United States Patent Courtney 451 Apr. 4, 1972 [54] LADDER ATTACHMENT[72] Inventor: John J. Courtney, 123 Clinton Rd., East Weymouth, Mass.02189 [22] Filed: June 22, 1970 [21] App]. No.: 48,384

[52] 11.8. CI ,.l82/l08, 182/214 [51 Int. Cl. ..E06c 5/36, E060 7/48[58] Field of Search 182/214, 107, 108

[56] A References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,590,064 6/1926 Seaman..182/2l4 Hansen ..l82/214 Russell 182/ l 08 Primary Examiner-ReinaldoP. Machado Attorney-Richard F. Benway [57] ABSTRACT A device forattachment to a ladder which enables the ladder to bridge windows anddistribute the force of the ladder over a larger area thereby providinga greater margin of safety against the ladder sliding off the buildingand at the same time a greater freedom in the work area yet be lighterand inexpens1ve.

4 Claims, 7 Drawing Figures Patented April4, 1972 FIG.

INVENTOR. JOHN J. QOURTNEY BY v ,wwlq FE 6 ATTORNEY LADDER ATTACHMENTConvejntional ladders are placed against buildings when work is requiredabove ground. Ladders are rather expensive yet a great number are ownedby home owners. These ladders without exception are designed such thatthe side rails are but a couple of feet apart at the most and are sodesigned they terminate at a very small point contact in two placesagainst the building. Furthermore, the trend with ladders is to lightweight material such as aluminum.

Along with the changes in ladders as to material, particularly that ofaluminum, the siding on buildings has undergone dramatic changes aswell. There's a great popularity in use of aluminum siding as well asvinyl shingle siding. In both instances these materials cannot support avery narrow point contact that is established by the conventional ladderwithout deformation of total destruction. Therefore, a significantproblem with the modern siding is that of breakage or deformation as aresult of the use of ladders.

The lightweight design of aluminum laddersmakes for increasedportability and flexibility in placing the ladder. However, coupled withthe problem of destroying siding on a house is a distinct safetyproblem. With two small point contacts of a lightweight ladder againstthe building and no one on the ladder, a simple light breeze is all thatis needed to lift the ladder slightly. If it is slightly ajar on theground, (that is a small angle of inclination toward any one direction),the ladder will slide off of the building, crash to the ground, andcause severe injury to people or passerbys. This difficulty with thealuminum ladder is also present when someone is on the ladder becausealthough the force against the building is greater, it may not besignificant enough to provide enough friction with a slightly higherwind. Accordingly, the lightweight of the ladder and the small pointcontact present very severe problems.

Another difficulty with a ladder of conventional design is that therails are so close to the building in the work area, that is the painteror repairman encounters some difficulty. Therefore, any scheme whichwould hold the latter out from the buildingslightly would provide adistinct advantage which would enable one to work more effectively inthe area where the ladder is making contact with the building. And ifthe contacts were extended out from the rails any distance, the ladderwould be used very effectively while working on windows becausethecontacts would straddle the window providing much more ease for workingin such areas.

Prior art devices have been suggested to meet some of the aboveproblems. For one thing, many designs have been made to straddlewindows; however, even the straddle arrangement usually ended up in avery small point contact against the building which would only providefor the solution of one problem-that of straddling the window. Anotherdifficulty that was not provided for, therefore, was the destruction ofshingles 'or siding; and the safety factor of lifting the ladderslightly out from the wall by a breeze enabling it to fall to theground. The prior art device referred to here invariably was of unitarydesign and extremely heavy. Therefore, users could not attach or detachthe unit easily and when they attached it, they would have difficulty inplacing the unit-ladder, that iswlth the attachment thereto against thebuilding owing to its great weight. The present invention was thereforedevised which could straddle a window as in prior art devices but wouldbe of exceedingly lower weight, at the same time its cost would be muchlower. Its ability to be attached to a ladder significantly more easyproviding decided advantages over the prior art devices especially forthose with the greatest needthat of the home owner.

The greatest single advantage of the present invention is not that ofstraddling the window. It is, however, that of a safety factor which thepresent invention provides for it does not make minimal contact with awall. It provides a considerable area of friction material which spreadsitself against the wall and at the same time a flexible spring-likeaction of the device along with the ladder provides a bias which nosingle slight breeze can release permitting the ladder to slide off thebuilding. And when a customer who has purchased the ladder is using itsome several feet above the ground, he cannot rock the ladder or causeit to slide. He must disembark from the ladder and move it from theground.

Not unlike the prior art the present invention will straddle the wall orwindow that may be desired'to be worked on. Moreover, the presentinvention, which does not have a unitary design, permits one to workfreely within the center of the ladder where the work is chiefly to beconducted; because of its two piece nature, it does not block orobstruct the area between the rails.

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a ladderattachment having two separate units.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a twounit(lightweight) attachment for ladders.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a twounit ladderattachment which provides an inherent bias preventing the ladder fromsliding off of the building.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a sponge-like,flexible foot for attachment to a ladder which distributes the force ofthe ladder in contact with the building preventing indentation ordestruction of siding or shingles.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be betterunderstood from thefollowing specification when read in conjunction withthe attached drawings of which:

FIG. 1 is the top of a ladderwith the invention attached.

FIG. 2 is a ladder leaning against a building with the ladderattachment.

FIG. 3 is a closeup top view of a ladder attachment accorded to thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a rail support bar according to the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a foot for the ladder attachment which comes in contact withthe building.

FIG. 6 is a section of the ladder attachment.

FIG. 7 is a lower portion of the ladder attachment 12.

Referring to FIG. 1 we see a ladder 11 with two identical devices inaccordance with the present invention which are attached to the rails ofthe ladderthey are designated 12 and 13.

In FIG. 2 we see the ladder 11 against a building 14 and the attachment13 is shown holding the ladder out from the building at a prescribeddistance.

The individual units 12 and 13 when attached to the ladder obviously canspan considerable distance such that they can span the distance of awindow as many of the conventional prior art devices could do. However,the fact that they are two single independent units provides somethingrather unique. Their weight is only a fraction of the prior art devicesyet it provides much more facility for working at the top of a ladder inand about the window because the center portion is no longer theirobstructing ones effort particularly that of painting or repairing partsof the window.

Another advantage of the present invention in its spanning quality iswith modern siding of very thin gauged steel or aluminum, it is wise tospread the forces of the ladder onto more than one shingle. With thepresent invention 12 and 13 may be offset from one another such thatthey do not line up directly on the same single or row of shingles.Furthermore, the distance apart that these units come in contact withthe building are such that a greater distribution of force is achievedwhich also prevents the shingle from being injured. As we will seefurther, the present invention makes other provisions which preventsinjury to siding.

Referring to FIG. 3 we see an individual unit in much greater detail. 12as shown has a triangular reinforcement structure, 21. Within thebox-like structure formed by the altitude leg of the triangularstructure, a movable piece 23, rod 24, and that portion which is anextension of the base of the triangle is utilized to enclose the railingof the ladder. It is placed over a ladder rail and rod 24 is pushed inas close as possible within track 48 and track 42 then thumb screw 25 isturned until 23 presses against the ladder rail 11. Thumb screw 6 isthen tightened on screw 22 so that symmetrical force provides a securecontact to the ladder rail. Another identical attachment can be attachedto the other railing as 13 but flipped over. Each unit is identical andwill be attached in the same manner. Screw 27 is about a foot out fromthe edge of the ladder railing and has a foot plate 31 attached to thescrew and compressible rubber material 32 attached to the foot plate.Two thumb screws 28 and 29 enable it to be positioned in or out from theladder rail so that a symmetrical or unsymmetrical position can beattained about the ladder so that flat surfaces of buildings and slopingsurfaces can be equally accommodated.

Referring to FIG. 4 we see piece 23 which comes in contact with aportion of ladder rail. 23 has a hole 41 for screw 22 which can betightened to maintain a pressure on the rail. 50 too, can 24 betightened with a thumb screw 25; however, in this event slot 42 permitsrod 24 to slide in or out such that a closer control over the pressureon the railing is provided. Furthermore, notches 46 and 47 permit thepiece 23 to slide up and down freely in slot 49 yet be unable to slipout of triangular member 21.

Referring to FIG. 6 we see an end view of 23 as it slides up or downwithin a slot 49 of the triangular supporting structure 21.

Referring to FIG. 7 we see the corresponding section of the base 12 ofthe triangular structure 21 and the corresponding slot 48 and a rod 24therein. The rod is free to pass in or out on 42 and 48 a stateddistance in order to permit a much tighter pressure to be maintained onthe railing which is held therein.

Referring again to FlG. 3, we see a section ofladder rail 11 within theopening and pressing against the altitude leg of triangle 21. This showsthat piece 23 is free to slide to contact one side of railing 11 andthat 24 can slide over such that a uniform parallel pressure with rod 22can therefore be obtained which will prevent any rotation of the deviceabout the railing regardless of the amount of weight that will be placedon the ladder when it is pressing up against the building.

Referring now to FIG. 5, we see in greater detail the footplate 31 andits rubber contact 32 which presses against the building. We note thatscrew 27 is threaded permitting the footplate to be moved up or downsuch that they provide independent adjustment for each device providinga greater flexibility on uneven building surfaces. Unevenness can comeabout by being underneath the base of one shingle while on the otherside it is above the base of a shingle, or the unit is placed againstthe trim woodwork of a building or one side is on a raised portion andone side is on an indented portion. This alone provides a flexibilityunknown in the prior art. However, a more unique feature resides in themetal plate 31 and the relative point contact that rod 27 provides. Theplate becomes distorted to conform to the wall somewhat in view of thefact that it is relatively thin gauged (about gauge steel which isdeformable). Furthermore, 32 is shown with a sloping surface. Thisaccommodates the angular relationship that the ladder has with referenceto the flat surface 14 of the building which the ladder lines up with.However, any failure on the part of the angular surface 23 toaccommodate the structure is readily made up by the point contact 27 andplate arrangement 31 of the present invention. Furthermore, the slopingstructure 32 has a sponge rubber arrangement within its center whichtakes up further inequalities of the surface. However, sponge rubber hasits failings inasmuch as abrasion can destroy it. Accordingly, thesponge rubber center has its surface coated with a moreabrasive-resistant rubber surface such as silicone or neoprene rubberand the like. Once the unit has been fabricated, that is sponge rubbersloping surface 32, it is adhesively connected to the plate 31, theentire unit is dipped in silicone rubber to provide a moreabrasive-resistant surface. It has been discovered that sponge rubberprovides a much more uniform surface than a hard rubber surface. It istherefore advisable to replace the units more often than would be thecase with hard rubber for the advantages gained by the uniformdistribution of forces are very cheaply purchased by the occasionalreplacement of a foot plate.

Referring again to FIG. 1, another advantage of the present inventionwill be readily noted. Both unit 13 and 12 can be quickly loosened andthey can be turned around on the rail and retightened such that 12 and13 triangular portions will be facing inward. The ladder can then bestored with these units in place. The units being made of aluminum andbeing relatively small in size are lightweight providing ease inerecting and placing the unit in place against the building and so tooin storage. In FIG. 3 we see that the screw rod 27 can be removed fromthat end and inserted in place of rod 24 at the other end such that thefootplates 31 and 32 will be closely aligned with the railings of theladder if one so chooses. Therefore, if one wished to utilize the ladderwith the foot pads very close to the railings so that the ladder may beextended in between narrow areas on complicated structures particularlynear the peak of a building which has an overhang from the roof, it canbe easily achieved. This latter advantage is nowhere to be found inprior art devices. Another advantage inherent within the present devicethat may not be immediately obvious is the safety factor. As was statedearlier, the trend in ladders today is aluminum ladders which arelightweight. When the ladder is leaning up against a building a slightbreeze can lift it slightly. The hard, narrow surface of the railingswould then lose contact with the building. Loss of frictional contact ofthe ladder can cause it to fall slightly left or right. Once this isstarted, it is inevitable that the ladder will come crashing to theground. With the present invention we see that we have sponge rubber 32on footplates 31. The weight of the ladder compresses this somewhat. Wefurther note that the triangular shape 21 causes a slight twisting ofthe rails of the ladder due to the weight of the ladder. With a greaterweight of greater twisting force is provided. This twisting force doesnot affect the ladder in any adverse way. However, it does provide acertain bias. If a wind comes and lifts the ladder, it will have to liftthe ladder much more than a few thousands of an inch. Under the newscheme you must lift the ladder as much as an inch to relieve all ofthese biases of the compressed sponge rubber and the twisting of therails before frictional contact at the upper end of the ladder is nolonger present. This is very unlikely to occur. Therefore, the presentinvention provides a much greater margin of safety than a conventionalladder without the use of the present invention from having the laddercome crashing to the ground. So too, when an individual is on the ladderworking, he cannot lift one railing of the ladder up eliminatingfrictional contact and therefore walk the ladder into a position a bitto the left or to the right on the building. He must dismount from theladder, pull it out slightly, and then move the ladder. Therefore,wreckless and negligent workers with the present attachment will beunable to cause themselves injury by such recklessness as trying to walkthe top of a ladder along the building.

By making the unit into two small triangular sections that is attachableto the ladder, a significant weight reduction is achieved. These unitsweigh but a pound in toto. This is considerably less than any of theprior art attachments that attempt to solve some of the problems thatthe present invention solvesthey are several pounds. Several pounds inthis sort of an arrangement is very critical for if one were only toimagine that the ladder were 15 feet long. an individual could extendhis arm perhaps 4 feet up the ladder and operate one end of the ladderby pulling or pushing on a 3-foot rail from fulcrum. Therefore, 15pounds on the other end would have a 10-foot lever arm. It will be seenthat 1 pound must be multiplied by the 10 feet to make a comparison.Therefore, any unit of the prior art would be useless as far as a singleman being able to utilize the device. With the present invention theattachment adds very slightly to the weight. As far as a lever armconsiderations, its negligible in comparison to prior art devices. Sothe individual home owner who must work alone will be able to utilizethis device without the assistance of someone else. It is the view ofthe inventor that prior art devices owing to their heavy weight andowing to the nature of the user, the home owner, they could never havebeen satisfactorily utilized while the present invention can and will beutilized providing that safety, convenience and inexpensiveness that thehomeowner needs.

Although I have described my invention with reference to particularapparatus, it is to be clearly understood that those skilled in the artwill be able to make many substitutions and variations without departingfrom the true scope and spirit of this invention. Accordingly, I onlywish to be limited by the attached claims.

I claim:

1. A ladder attachment comprising:

two independent identical parts having,

a right triangular body,

an extended base on said triangular body,

adjustable foot means on the foot of said extended base at the junctureof the hypotenuse of said triangular body,

a slotted notched bar,

said altitude leg of said triangular body having a slot for cooperatingwith said bar, adjustable bolt means, said bar and said base slotted atone end to receive a bolt and a single hole at the other end to receivethe remaining bolt, whereby said bolt and bar are brought in rigidadjustment to a ladder rail. 2. A ladder attachment according to claim 1wherein said adjustable foot means include,

, a deformable plate of preselected thickness a triangular shapedcompressible base affixed to said plate. 3. A ladder attachmentaccording to claim 2 wherein said foot means has a coating of abrasiveresistant coating.

4. A ladder attachment according to claim 3 wherein said attachment islightweight metal.

1. A ladder attachment comprising: two independent identical partshaving, a right triangular body, an extended base on said triangularbody, adjustable foot means on the foot of said extended base at thejuncture of the hypotenuse of said triangular body, a slotted notchedbar, said altitude leg of said triangular body having a slot forcooperating with said bar, adjustable bolt means, said bar and said baseslotted at one end to receive a bolt and a single hole at the other endto receive the remaining bolt, whereby said bolt and bar are brought inrigid adjustment to a ladder rail.
 2. A ladder attachment according toclaim 1 wherein said adjustable foot means include, a deformable plateof preselected thickness a triangular shaped compressible base affixedto said plate.
 3. A ladder attachment according to claim 2 wherein saidfoot means has a coating of abrasive resistant coating.
 4. A ladderattachment according to claim 3 wherein said attachment is lightweightmetal.